We have enjoyed cruising for many years with various cruise lines: Celebrity, Royal Caribbean,Princess and now have added HAL to our list. We chose the Maasdam because of its itinerary and were very happy with that decision. No other cruise line has been able to come up to the standards set by Celebrity but HAL comes pretty "dam" close.
We spent many hours pouring over CC reviews of HAL and the Maasdam and so had some reservations about the HAL age factor since we are recently retired and in our 50s. As well, liking the size of the Millennium class ships of Celebrity, we were worried that the small 1290 passenger Maasdam would disappoint.
EMBARKATION: Embarkation was one of the smoothest we have encountered. We were particularly happy to observe how HAL politely yet deliberately adhered to their embarkation procedure although some passengers attempted to pass a 9 for a 6. It always amazes me how some folks feel entitled to change the rules. We arrived at the pier at 11:00 and were on board by 11:30. Lunch was served in the Lido - a very pleasant morning.
Maasdam 830-noisy when docking.